Seven Snogs
by RainbowSerenity
Summary: /AkuRoku/ Written for LJ community 7snogs. Seven different stories, seven different kisses, one very hot couple. Highly recommended by readers: 'Argument' and 'Jealousy' in which Axel quotes Avenue Q and proves his hips don't lie.
1. Milk

_Howdy! –sweatdrops- Like stated in the summary, this is a series of seven Roxas x Axel oneshots based on seven themes given in the LiveJournal community **7snogs**. Ratings will probably be either T or M, since c'mon, those two definitely don't have any kind of sugary-sweet relationship. ;P _

_Honestly, this whole thing is kinda weird 'cause I'm not a really big Roxas x Axel fan, but I decided to take on the challenge! Plus, I like other yaoi couples in Kingdom Hearts, so I figure why not try writing one of the more popular ones? xP _

As for this first theme, it's umm...yeeeah, a tad 'dirtier' than I ever really intended. –sweatdrops- Heh, heh...so yeah, you've been warned, and you're about to be warned again.

**Theme: Milk  
Rating: M**

Sunlight streamed through the open seams of dark curtains, hitting the face of a young man just so. He opened an eye, temporarily blinded, and quickly buried his face back into his pillow. Out of reflex, he stretched an arm out across the queen sized bed, only to find that he was the only one _in _the bed.

Blue eyes slowly opened again, now flitted with confusion. Roxas glanced at the blaringly obvious digital clock in the room, which read 8:31 in its obnoxious red letters. He rubbed his eyes, blinking to make sure he was reading it right.

Yup, it still said eight thirty-one in the goddamn morning.

Okay, recap here. It was pretty much common knowledge to anybody that Roxas and his...'other' (he still didn't know what to call him...boyfriend? lover? fuck buddy?) stayed up just about all night doing _things _to each other that were usually not spoken of outside of the bedroom. No need to have the neighbors eyeballs explode from out of their heads, after all. And because of their little nighttime rendezvous', they never woke up before noon. _Never._

Until now, that is.

Roxas heaved a huge sigh and plopped face-first back into his pillow. He was going to _murder _Axel, seriously. Never mind that he threatened to disembody the redhead practically every day for one reason or another, but _still—_eight-thirty! _EIGHT FUCKING THIRTY!_

He closed his eyes and tried to fall back asleep since he was really tired and all—Axel had really gotten into it last night—but Roxas found himself tossing and turning for an hour, unable to drift back to dreamland without a certain flame-haired freak spooning with him. Damnit. Damnit all to hell.

With a practiced groan, he managed to sit up and stumble clumsily out of bed, finding random pajama pants to wear since he really didn't feel like walking around in his birthday suit. After slipping them on, still half asleep, he shuffled around the apartment, crashing into random walls and doors on account of being bleary-eyed. With every room he glanced in, though, Roxas grew more and more pissed.

Axel wasn't _anywhere _to be found. And here Roxas was always bragging you could spot that flame-haired freak from ten miles away due to his vibrant tresses—now he couldn't even find that pyro in their own damn place!

Grrr.

Inwardly thanking the fact that their apartment was on the first floor so he didn't have to risk tripping over his own two sleepy feet down any stairs, Roxas stumbled outside, wincing at the sudden brightness. He shaded his blue orbs with his hand and yawned, wandering around the building looking for that weirdo.

After circling the building three times, he started to wonder just why the hell he was outside in the first place, when he could be asleep in his nice, comfy bed in his equally dark room. If Axel wanted to randomly disappear in the morning instead of sleeping, well, that was just fine with him!

"Yeah, this is the last one. Got it memorized?"

Roxas would've jumped out of his skin had he not been so tired. That was _Axel's _voice...wasn't it?

Roxas turned towards the direction the voice was coming from, which was an old, junkyard of a lot next door to the building they lived in. He slowly crept behind a tall, decrepit pile of rotting tires and peeked over the stack just so.

To his utter shock, Axel was sitting on a mothball of a blanket, barefoot but wearing black pajama pants and a off-shoulder black sweatshirt, surrounded by..._cats._

The younger man blinked. What the...?

One of the cats, a shaggy-looking brown one wearing a pink collar, hissed at Axel, its tail sticking straight up in the air. Axel just laughed and set down a saucer of milk, gently petting the cat. "Chill, Marly, but like I said, this is the last one. One of these days Roxas is going to notice that all the cartons keep disappearing..."

"Oh, so _that's _where they go?"

Axel yelped and jumped about a foot in the air, which scared away half of the cats near him (including Marly, but he swiped a paw, claws extended, at Axel's foot before running off). He stared at Roxas with wide eyes, who just put his hands on his hips, trying to look stern.

He failed miserably. After about half a second, Roxas collapsed next to Axel, laughing his head off. "Aw, _man! _Do you do this _every _morning?"

The redhead didn't answer him right away. "What are you doing up!" he demanded to know, itching to hide the bowls of milk to deny everything, but knew it was useless. "You should be sleeping like a baby right now!"

"Oh, please. Just because I'm two damn years younger than you—"

"Forget I said it!" Axel held up his hands in defense. "I don't need the whole 'eighteen is an adult' lecture _again. _Yeesh."

Roxas rolled his eyes, resting his chin in his palm. "So what are you doing out here, anyway?"

"What's it look like?" Axel gestured to the cats lapping at the saucer, including a few of the ones that had returned from his freak-out. "Most of them are wild, so I figured...you know."

A pause. One could practically _hear _the grin Roxas was sporting. "That's so..."

"Don't say it. Don't you _dare _fucking say it."

This time it was Roxas who put his hands up in defense. "Fine, fine...I won't say it's _sooo cuuuuute, _you flamer."

Axel growled menacingly and launched himself at Roxas, pinning his bare shoulders down on the ugly blanket they had been sitting on. His eyes narrowed into emerald slits, the black diamond tattoos under his eyes looking..._threatening, _somehow.

"You take that back, pretty boy," he growled, leaning in.

Roxas just laughed, somehow managing to snake his arms from under Axel's grip and tweaked his nose. "Aww, you think I'm pretty?"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

With another growl, Axel crushed his mouth against Roxas', who eagerly responded, slipping his arms around the older man's neck and pulling him down until their chests crushed each other's. Axel wound a fist into Roxas' spiky blond hair, tugging at it in a raw frenzy of passion. After a few long moments, Axel tore his mouth from his other, panting heavily.

"We should get back to bed," he gasped.

Roxas pretended to think about it. "Sure, but...don't have you have to check on your pussies first?"

Axel's mouth fell open, and before he could react, Roxas had disappeared from underneath him, running back towards the apartment with superhuman speed. Axel muttered towards the cats, but more towards himself, before taking off towards Roxas.

"Hmm, and that _was _the last carton. Guess he's not getting _any _white stuff tonight."

--

_ZOMG. –falls over- Axel's sooo dirty. xD _

There will be six more where this came from, but none of the oneshots are connected...they're all separate stories. Woot? Oh, and if you have a LiveJournal, please feel free to friend me on there! I'll probably be updating that sooner than this since this IS a LJ challenge, heh heh. Link to my LJ is in my bio!

_Sooo...how'd I do? Like it, didn't like it? Either way, please feed the author and **review! **You'll get cookies, but no milk...Axel gave it all to the cats. xP_


	2. Uniform

_Tehehe._ –_giggles- Thanks so much for the reviews, everybody! I feel loved. –grins like an idiot- I reeeally like this one a lot...it makes me laugh. The mental picture I got was PRICELESS. XD_

_Cookies to Magick and clam thief for finding the Marluxia reference! ;D Kekeke I had to do it. He's kinda funny looking like a cat...ANYWAYS! Next theme!_

**Theme: Uniform  
Rating: T**

If there was one thing Roxas abhorred more than anything in the world, it was laziness.

Given his reasons, it was completely understandable. He had grown up in the slums with two little brothers and a sister without a mother. His 'father'—and he used that term very loosely—was a drunkard and rarely worked, always sitting his lazy ass on the couch during the day, beer in hand, and spent his nights at the bars. This forced Roxas to grow up rather fast, working constantly to support his struggling family.

Little by little he had pushed himself through, and at nineteen, was the youngest person to co-own a rather famous and successful bank in the company's history. If he had anything, it was definitely work ethic.

Which was more than could be said for his live-in boyfriend...

Well, Roxas couldn't really _complain _about Axel, since the redhead _did _have a job, which was better than his than his lowlife, good-for-nothing father had ever done, even if Axel's job did require him sitting on his ass all day.

Axel was a freelance writer for a very small magazine, meaning that his job wasn't very _steady, _he just basically wrote when he felt like it, and the magazine company paid him a small sum for his articles—emphasis on the word 'small'. The so-called 'salary' that Axel was paid didn't even _begin _to cover the expenses in their lush one-bedroom apartment, so Roxas was usually stuck paying for most of the expenses.

He wouldn't have minded—it was nice being able to pay for things without worrying, after all—except for the fact it had been _six friggin' months _since Axel had even _submitted _anything to the magazine! And as far as Roxas could tell, he wasn't even writing on a regular basis!

Laziness. The blond could spot it from a _mile _away. It was definitely time to do something about it. Better sooner than later, he quickly realized, when he came home one day to find Axel sprawled out on the floor, a pillow covering his face — to muffle his snoring, no doubt.

Roxas heaved a sigh and kicked the pillow off Axel's face. "Get up, you idiot."

A loud, rumbling snore was his reply.

"_GET UP!"_

"GAHHH!" Axel sat straight up, his skinny arms somehow managing to fly and smack Roxas in the chest. He shook his head and quickly regained use of his limbs, smiling sheepishly. "Uh...hey Roxas! How goes it?"

Blue eyes narrowed in reply, accompanied by crossed arms and a tapping foot. Axel shrieked at the top of his lungs and stood up, running around the apartment like a total...well, crazy person. It didn't help since Roxas had figured out a _long _time ago that Axel was all but legally insane, so running around like a dumbass certainly didn't help the blond from thinking otherwise.

"Shut up for a second," Roxas said, holding out his hand to stop Axel in his tracks as he was about to run into the other. Green eyes widened for a moment, and then quickly narrowed into a smirk.

"What's up, Roxas?" Axel asked, putting on his best 'I'm sweet and innocent' voice, even though he knew damn well nothing like that worked on his man.

"We need to talk about your lack of job."

"I have a job!" Axel ran into his work area and grabbed a bunch of papers covered in oh-so-formal Times New Roman font. Roxas snatched the papers and quickly scanned them over, only to smack them back into his boyfriend's skinny chest.

"Those are the articles you showed me _months _ago!" Roxas growled, about to tear his spiky hair out in frustration.

"Good memory," the redhead muttered before looking up with big, wide green eyes, hoping to get out of a lecture.

...Ha! In his _dreams_.

"Axel..." Roxas heaved a sigh and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. "You need a job. I don't care what kind of job, just something that pays money. I'm sick of constantly taking care of every single bill here, and you have to start contributing at least _something_."

"I can't help it!" the pyro cried, throwing his arms in the air for dramatic flourish. "My Muse is asleep! It left me for so long, leaving me to _nothing, _I tell you! _Nothing!"_

Roxas was unfazed by the babbling. "I don't care. Next time I see your Muse, I'll give it a swift kick in the toga, because you're not going to be sitting around on your freeloading ass _anymore_."

Axel winced, feeling a bit hurt at being called a 'freeloader', but quickly brushed it off and skillfully snaked his arms around his boyfriend's neck. "Aw, c'mon Roxas," he murmured, pressing his forehead against the other's. "I'm just stuck in a rut. I promise I'll have something written by the end of the month, okay?"

He leaned forward, intending to capture Roxas's lips in a practiced kiss, but the blond quickly shoved him away, blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

"No way," Roxas growled. "Don't you _dare _try to sweet-talk your way out of this. You'd _better _have some kind of legal, paying job by the end of the week, or you're sleeping on the couch from here on out." With that, he spun on his heel and headed towards the kitchen for some dinner, leaving Axel stupefied with his mouth hanging open.

"Aw, damnit."

--

The following Friday afternoon, Roxas opened the door to the apartment, heaving a tremendous sigh and headed towards the bedroom to change out of his bothersome work clothes. Luckily Fridays were slow, so he was able to come home several hours early. Even luckier, as far as he could tell, Axel wasn't around so he really _could _relax. Heck yes.

After awhile, the blond plopped down on the couch, a huge bag of potato chips resting next to him with the remote in his other hand. He was all set to stare blankly at random sitcoms for the next few hours when the doorbell gave a loud, shrill _ding-dong!_

"Who the hell...?" Roxas muttered, staring at the door in disbelief, remote still in his hand. He looked at the door, back at the remote, and then again at the door. Maybe if he ignored it, they'd go away and he could continue being lazy...yeah, that was a good plan.

_Ding-dong!_

Or not.

Roxas threw the remote on the couch, gritting his teeth in annoyance. He stomped towards the door, opening it with a large, dramatic flourish and started to yell, "WHAT—" He blinked. "—the hell?" he finished, in a much softer, surprised tone.

There was a giant Moogle at his front door.

He blinked again, blue eyes wide beyond belief. The Moogle just stared back, its hands (paws?) on its hips. It seemed to _know_ him...

"Roxas?" the Moogle said, its voice muffled. But wait a sec, it sounded _strangely _familiar... "It's me."

Roxas did a double take. "_Axel?_"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me. Got it memorized?" He waddled into the apartment, clearly not used to being a...Moogle. "Like it? I couldn't get my key out. That's why I rang the bell."

"What...the...?"

"Cid's place downtown needed a mascot. Apparently the real Moogle who used to do this stupid job got promoted or something, so I'm filling in. Cid was the only guy who would hire me."

"Wait, wait, wait," Roxas huffed, waving his arms in confusion. "You got a job?"

"Yeah. I'd really rather _not _sleep on the couch."

Roxas ignored that last comment. "So, you got a job...as a Moogle mascot."

"_Yes." _Axel now sounded the slightest bit pissed, and proved it by removing the head of the uniform, a glare crossing his features. "I get to wear this stupid costume and encourage people to buy useless shit, all while saying 'kupo' ten times an hour."

"..."

"_You _were the one who wanted me to get a job!"

"..."

"Stop looking at me like I'm an idiot! Geez!"

"..."

"_WHAT?"_

Roxas shook his head and ran a hand through his spiky blond locks, biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing his brains out. Okay, he _had _wanted his boyfriend to get a job, but as...as a _mascot? _He'd expected something mundane, like a busboy or a cashier or something stupid.

_This _was freaking priceless.

Still wearing an uncontrollable grin, he leaned up towards Axel and suddenly kissed him, meaning just to give him a slight peck, but of course Axel would have none of that. The redhead/Moogle gave a grunt of approval and wrapped his furry white arms around Roxas's waist, yanking the younger man against him. Wet, satisfied noises echoed through the otherwise silent apartment, and Roxas let out a needy moan when Axel did that—that _thing _with his tongue, and if there was any way to describe it, he would have, but his mind was suddenly feeling cloudy.

Roxas grudgingly pulled away from Axel, his hands roaming all over the uniform. After a moment, a frown crossed his face, and he stared up at the redhead's now flushed face.

"Axel..."

"What?" he panted, really wishing that Roxas would just _stop talking already. _

"...How do you get this thing off?"

Axel grinned deviously, almost smirking. "Well, why don't I show you..." he trailed off suggestively, before the two hightailed it to the bedroom.

From that day forward, Roxas couldn't look at a Moogle without a bright red blush creeping up his face.

--

_-le gasp- Who knew Moogles could be so darn dirty? ;D _

_Axel: It WASN'T the Moogles! It was the -bleep-ing costume! RAHHH! _

_P'shaw, I guess flame-boy's been hanging around Cid too much. xP But anyway...**reviews **are totally appreciated! I ran out of cookies (I gave them all to Magick, mwhahaha) sooo...cake all around for awesome reviewers! Yay cake! xD _


	3. Argument

_Errr...wow. XD This one is...yeeeeah. It was inspired by a video on YouTube, and the link should be in my bio if you'd like to check it out. It makes me laaaaugh. But then again, practically everything does XD _

Aaaand...I can't believe how many people I've corrupted about Moogles -dies laughing- Poor, innocent little Moogles, being subjected to Axel's, uh...dirtyness. Heh, heh. -smirks- Apparently I rock socks. Yay, thanks Magick :D All your socks are belong to me!

Anyway, as for this theme...I have one thing to say: CRACKTASTIC.  
You've been warned. ;P

**Theme: Argument**  
**Rating: T **

Roxas would be the first person at Twilight Town High to say that high school totally sucked out loud.

However, he was also quite serious about it. He was notorious for goofing off with his friend Hayner in the middle of class, seemingly not caring about it, and later handing in every bit of homework—and then some—all on top of passing every exam with flying colors.

Hey, he _had _to do it: no _way _was he staying in Twilight Town for college. Nooo way. He'd rather stab the pencil he was currently using in his eye and twist it into his cornea so that he was screaming bloody murder.

Well, maybe not.

But still, for what he lacked in class participation, he definitely made up with his stellar grades. Roxas _always _made time for the homework. He gave a satisfied little smile as he finished up a bunch of assigned math problems, and turning to the literature work—reading the first act of 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Lame--but hey, there was no doubt in the blond's mind that there would be a pop quiz on the pages tomorrow. The teacher was a creepy yellow-haired woman who kinda looked like she had bug feelers coming out of her head. She acted like an insect too; annoying and loved torturing her students with evil pop quizzes nobody ever seemed to pass.

Roxas let out another sigh as he began reading the first scene, only to be startled by someone knocking on his window. He let out a little yelp and jumped, spinning in his desk chair to see who it was—although it should've been obvious.

His best friend, Axel, was grinning widely, gesturing to the blond to let him inside. Roxas grudgingly obliged, rolling his eyes as the spiky-haired redhead tumbled into the room, laughing his brains out.

It was odd that the two were best friends—they were polar opposites. People who didn't know Roxas very well would describe him as icy and cold, caring only about his studies; though his friends knew better. Axel, on the other hand, was firey and crazy, not giving a damn about schoolwork or the future, just living every day in the moment.

They had met when Roxas became part of a tutoring program at the hellhole—er, school—and Axel was his 'student', so to speak. Roxas quickly became so frustrated at the redhead's inability to retain any information whatsoever, he found himself inviting Axel over his house to see if he would study better in a less 'structured' environment. The study session eventually evolved into a conversation of other things, and the two had been incredibly close ever since.

However, Roxas' mother hated Axel's habit of randomly catching things on fire, so he had to sneak into the house by way of Roxas's window, where there was a fully-loaded fire extinguisher.

Roxas raised his eyebrow at Axel, who was still laughing. He rolled his eyes and turned back to 'Romeo and Juliet', waiting for him to calm down already.

"Hey Roxas!" Axel finally blurted out, slapping a hand to his skinny chest.

"Hey, Axel," Roxas replied, rolling his eyes.

"Man! You'll never guess what happened to me on the bus ride over here! This guy--who had the freakiest-looking mullet _ever-- _was smiling and talking to me!"

"...Interesting."

Axel's grin continued to widen, unfazed that his best friend wasn't the least bit interested in his story. "He was being real friendly. I'm sure he was coming on to me--I think he might've thought I was gay!"

'_What gave it away?' _Roxas thought bitterly at the back of his mind. However, he wasn't going to give a certain flamer in his room the satisfaction of an answer, so he just cleared his throat in annoyance and replied, "Why are you telling me this? I don't care."

Axel raised an eyebrow, the diamond tattoos under his eyes twitching as he tried to compose his grin. "Well, well, Roxas. You don't need to get all defensive about it."

"I'm _not _getting defensive!" Roxas all but growled. "I don't care about some gay guy you met, okay? I'm trying to read. This is _homework. _You know, my future? Grades? Getting out of this town?"

The redhead ignored him. "I didn't mean anything by it. I just think it's something, you know, that we should be able to talk about. We talk all the time about lots of stuff."

"Not this! Forget it; this conversation is _over._"

"Yeah, but..."

"_Over!"_ Roxas finally turned to glare daggers at Axel, narrowing his blue eyes into slits.

Axel was still unfazed and waved a hand dismissively. "Well, okay, but just so you know..." He broke into a wide, silly grin, putting his hands on his slim hips. "If you were gay...that'd be okay!"

Roxas' glare turned to a horrified expression, but Axel didn't let that deter him. In fact, he continued his statement in an almost sing-song voice:

"I mean 'cause, hey! I'd like you an-y-way!"

Oh dear gods, now he was doing a little dance in addition to the singing.

"Because you see, if it were meee...I would feel free to say that I was gay—but I'm not gay!" He crossed his arms to prove his point.

Roxas gritted his teeth and turned back to his homework. "Axel, please, I am trying to read." When the fiery redhead didn't reply, the blond looked up to see Axel still grinning psychotically. "What!"

"If you were queer..."

"Grrr...Axel..."

"I'd still be here..."

"Axel, I am trying to read this book."

"Year after year..."

"AXEL."

"Because you're dear to me!"

"ARGUH!"

"And I know that you..." Axel pointed to Roxas, swinging his hips in tune with his little sing-song voice. "Would accept me too...!"

"I would?" Roxas wasn't even attempting to read anymore, and was regarding Axel with very annoyed eyes.

"If I told you today—'hey, guess what, I'm gay!'...But I'm not gay." Axel quickly added, waving his hand dismissively.

'_Riiiiiight,' _Roxas couldn't help but think.

Oh geez, Axel was _still _at it. "I'm happy just being with you!"

"I'm going to kill you."

Roxas was ignored, as usual. "So what should it matter to me what you do in bed with guys?"

"Axel, that is wrong!"

"No, it's not!" Oh great—now he was really getting into it. Axel jumped onto Roxas's bed, still grinning like a crazy madman. "If you were gay, I'd shout HOORAY!" His arms flew into the air with mock joy.

"I am not listening!"

"And here I'd staaay..."

"La, la, la, la, la!" Roxas covered his ears in a pitiful attempt to muffle his friend's...well...whatever you wanted to call that. Singing? Ranting?

"But I wouldn't get in your way!"

Attempt failed. Roxas uncovered his ears and tore at his spiky blond locks, gritting his teeth. "GAHHH!"

Axel was on a roll now, still ignoring Roxas. "You can count on me to always be beside you every day—to tell you it's okay! You were just born that way! And as they say, 'it's in your DNA', YOU'RE GAY!" He pointed an accusing finger towards the blond, smiling psychotically.

"But I'm not gay!" Roxas argued, finally getting up, his hands balling into fists.

Axel paused. "...If you _were _gay."

"GAHHH!" Roxas cried again. He suddenly launched himself at his best friend (although what 'best friend' accused you of being gay when you were pretty darn sure you weren't?) and tackled him off the bed. Their scuffle quickly became a pathetic little wrestling match. The homework was long forgotten from the blond's brain; now all he wanted was to beat Axel to a bloody pulp. Given the fact that Axel was a wiry little thing, Roxas should have won easily, but he ended up finding himself pinned to the floor by his wrists, his limbs tangled with the redhead's.

Axel's lips curled into an amused smirk. "You know, sometimes I do kind of wonder."

"Wonder what?" Roxas squirmed, trying to break from Axel's grip. Those green eyes were getting _way _too close to his face.

"If we _were _gay." Axel's smirk flashed into a grin, though the amusement still danced in his eyes. "Care to test out that theory?"

"What! Wait, Axel, what are you—MMMPH! Mmmmph!...mmm."

--

_As for what happened after that, I'll let your minds wander XD _

I hope I didn't corrupt anybody this time!...wait, yes I do -evil grin- Please feed the author with **reviews? **You get caaaake...:D


	4. Rumor

_Hey hey. ;P Next theme, up! -kicks it into place- Heh, heh. I personally don't think it's my best one, but we're all our own worst critics. I'll let you guys  
be the judges. xP _

_By the way, THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for everybody who's been reviewing! Special thanks to everybody who read the last chapter (by the way, yes, the 'guy with the freakiest-looking mullet ever' was Demyx).I got a bunch of nice reviews for that one (and apparently it started a lot of laughs on LJ  
too xD) and it made me smiiile like a crazy person. :D Hope you all like this one, even though there's a bit of _OOC-ness_. Kekeke._

**Theme: Rumor  
Rating: T**

"Hey Demyx."

"A-Axel?" Demyx blinked in stupor, looking the redhead up and down. "What are you doing here? We haven't hung out in like...a month."

"Yeah, well, Roxas wasn't around when I got up this morning and everyone else was busy, so I figured I'd come see you. So I'm visiting. Got it memorized?"

The blond's mouth hung open, but he closet it with a snap and let Axel inside. "Uh, well, I was just working on a song. Where _is_ Roxas, anyway?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here, now would I?" the redhead snarled. "On top of it, this is the fifth time this week he's disappeared like this. Every time I ask him what's going on, he never gives me a straight answer. WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM?"Axel exclaimed, shaking Demyx's shoulders roughly.

"Uhuhuh I-don't-know-quit-sha-king-meeeee."

"Hmph." Axel abruptly let go, sending an unexpected Demyx stumbling. "This is really pissing me off. Seriously, he always said he could tell me anything and now _this_!"

"Oh, calm down." Ha, easy for him to say; Demyx was _always_ mellow. "If something really serious was going on, he'd tell you."

"Grrr."

"If you're _that _worried, how 'bout we go around and try to find him? He's gotta be in town somewhere."

"Arrguh." Axel heaved a sigh and started to pace, scratching the back of his head. Spend a day with _Demyx_, the world's most incompetent human being? However, if it was for Roxas, Axel would do just about anything--though he'd never admit it.

Finally he gave in, slumping his shoulders and plopping on the couch. "Fine. I just want to find Roxas and give him a piece of my mind."

"Great!" Demyx squealed, jumping up and clapping his hands together.

Axel just growled and rolled his eyes, which the blond ignored. "Where do we start?"

--

Their first stop was checking around the local mini-mall where there were a few restaurants, a bookstore, a clothing shop, and a jewelry store. It was actually pretty lame, but it was the closet thing within walking distance, and Axel had noted that every morning Roxas was gone, the car was still in the driveway. So in a nutshell...this would be the first place he would go to.

"So what are we going to do?" Demyx asked once he and Axel reached the parking lot. "Search around in each store, or what?"

"No," Axel answered, biting his lip. "We're going to hide in those bushes—" He pointed towards a line of shrubbery that cut off the parking lot from the street. "—And wait for awhile until we see Roxas. If we do, I'm going to jump up and bitch him out. Got it memorized?"

"Whaa...?" Demyx stuttered pitifully, trying to follow the redhead's plan, but didn't have time to think as he was forcefully shoved behind those stupid bushes.

"Now...we wait."

"Can I get some water?"

"Shut up. This was your idea."

Demyx frowned. Yeah, it _was _his idea to try and find Roxas, but not to hide in greenery like they were some kind of monkeys...heh, heh...monkeys.

"'Sup, dudes?"

Both guys let out a yelp of surprise and spun around to see a mutual friend, Xigbar, behind them. Xigbar was a totally tubular surfer dude, usually not seen on land unless it was on a beach, preparing to catch some waves. However, he had recently managed to scratch his eye with a plastic drinking straw (how, Axel would never want to know) and was wearing an eye patch until it healed, which kept him from his usual days of surfing.

"Hey Xigbar," Demyx greeted with a grin. "We're on a stakeout! Roxas has been disappearing and not telling Axel where he's going, so we're spying to see if we can find him!"

Axel sighed at the darker-haired man's incredulous look. "Something like that."

"Well dude, if you're looking for Roxas, check that jewelry place. He's been going in and out of there for days now."

Axel's mouth fell open. "_What? _Are you sure? Why would he go in _there?_"

"I dunno, but every time I see him, he's with what's-her-name. That one blonde chick."

Green eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. He's totally in there right now with her. Are you dudes breaking up or something?"

"...No. Why?"

"Well, last time I saw them, he was having her try on a ring. That chick's got some tiny fingers if you ask me."

"..." Axel was beyond words. In fact, it felt like his heart had stopped; like he didn't have one at all. He _knew _who Xigbar was talking about—Naminé, one of Roxas' best friends.

He also knew that Naminé had been harboring a crush on Roxas for _years._

"I gotta go," the redhead said quickly, jumping through the bushes and making a mad dash for the strip of stores.

Demyx cocked his head and shrugged, deciding to go back home and work on his song some more. He grinned at Xigbar. "Hey, wanna come over and listen to this song I've been working on?"

Xigbar grinned back. "Sure, dude."

--

Axel's heart still didn't feel like it was functioning properly, but maybe that was because he had been holding his breath so long, he was eventually forced to let it out in a big, choking gasp. Ugh.

He was standing right next to the front window of the jewelry store. He couldn't go inside in case Roxas saw him; but he _did _want to see if his lover was in there with Naminé or not. Hey, maybe Xigbar had been lying—that guy was known for not being totally all there.

Still, Axel _had _to know. With another shuddering breath, he slowly turned to inconspicuously glance inside the store.

He couldn't see anything at first due to glare, but after his eyes adjusted, he indeed saw Roxas standing at the counter, pointing to something in one of the display cases. Axel frowned. Naminé was nowhere to be found, but that was fine with him.

He had rejoiced too soon. As soon as Roxas moved a bit, Axel caught a glimpse of a petite blonde girl who had been hidden behind the boy. They were talking, but Axel was too busy staring at the scene unfolding in front of him to pay attention to the words.

Roxas was slipping a ring onto Naminé's finger.

--

"Are you sure it was Naminé?" Demyx asked with a frown. He ran his guitar pick through several strings, clearly torn between listening to Axel and going back to his song.

"Yeah." Axel heaved a sigh, burying his face in his hands. After seeing the two back at the mini-mall, the redhead had hightailed it back to Demyx's place, wanting to talk to somebody—_anybody_—about this whole mess and tell him he was overreacting. Why he chose to go to Demyx, he _still_ didn't know.

However, Xigbar was still hanging out there, and while the guy talked like his brains were permanently sun-fried, he was actually pretty smart most of the time. You just had to get past the totally tubular accent to hear it.

"Well dude, are you going to talk to him about it?"

Except for now.

"What!" Axel was flabbergasted. "Are you crazy? If I ask him about it, he's going to find out I went to spy on him, which will make him think I don't trust him, which will make _me _look really stupid!"

"Dude, you'd be even stupider if you didn't talk to him about it. You can't just sit around and wonder, yanno?"

"Arrguh." Axel stood up, looking really, really pissed off. He clearly _wasn't _going to take Xigbar's suggestion even though it _was_ good advice; the redhead was just too thickheaded to think clearly at the moment.

He sighed and made his way out the door. "I'm going home to think about this. This day never happened, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever dude," Xigbar replied, waving his hand nonchalantly. Demyx nodded enthusiastically, and Axel headed for home.

Too bad he didn't know that the musician's record for keeping secrets was zero and none.

--

"Blehhhhh." Axel groaned and flopped his head under a pillow, trying to get comfortable on the ridiculously uncomfortable couch in his apartment. Well, his and Roxas' apartment.

Oi. Roxas.

A week had gone by ever since the 'Oh-My-Gawd-Roxas-and-Naminé-Look-Like-They're-Totally-Together' incident at the mini-mall. During that time, Axel had hardly seen his spiky-haired lover boy at all due to his even more constant disappearances and their conflicting work schedules. The occasional peck on the lips or mumbles of 'g'nite' were hardly enough to reassure Axel that Roxas wasn't having an affair.

ARGUH! This was driving him absolutely mad. He _knew _he couldn't take Xigbar's advice and talk to him since one _look _at Roxas sent him melting into a puddle of goo—on the inside, of course. He couldn't really stay mad at the boy if his life depended on it.

"I'm hooome."

Speak of the devil.

Axel quickly sat up, sending the pillow that had been covering his head flying into oblivion. He blinked in confusion, staring at Roxas, the clock, and back and forth and back and forth until he finally managed to spit out a question: "What are you doing home so early?"

"Because...eh, never mind. Why are you being so mopey?"

"I wasn't being mopey," Axel grumbled.

Roxas just smiled and joined the redhead on the couch, picking up his feet and placing them carefully on his lap. Axel raised an eyebrow. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Answer my question first, flamer." Roxas never tired of using that nickname on the pyro.

"Feh."

Roxas sighed. "Well then, if you're not going to answer me, I have to tell you something."

The older man visibly tensed. _'Oh crap, this is it, he's gonna dump me and I'll have to move in with Demyx and listen to his whining all day and why the heck is Roxas smiling like that? WHY!'_

The blond was indeed smiling, like something really amusing was going through his head. "So, today at work, my boss comes up to me and congratulates me on my 'new girlfriend'." Blue eyes met nervous emerald ones. "Have you been going outside in a skirt or something?"

"No!"

"And then when I was coming home, I happened to run into Demyx..." Axel's eyes widened and he started twiddling his thumbs nervously. He should've known. He should have _known _that an incompetent musician couldn't keep a secret worth a damn. "...And Demyx was asking me what was going on with Naminé and I..."

What the hell was Roxas doing? He almost seemed _amused _by this. Axel certainly wasn't; he still sat glued to the couch, feeling jittery. "He told me he saw me with her when you two were _spying _on me and he went on to tell Xigbar—"

"Er, Xigbar was with us." Roxas ignored him. "—Who told Vexen, who told Zexion, who told Marly, who told Saix, who told my boss, who told me. So now there's a rumor going around that part of the town's boy couple has gone straight."

How he had managed to follow that, he would never know, but Axel still managed to blink, totally stupefied. "B-but I thought that...you and Naminé...you kept..." Finally he got up from the couch, nearly kicking Roxas in the face in the process, and started pacing around the room. "You were putting a _ring _on her finger! What the hell was I _supposed _to think?"

"First of all, you weren't supposed to go and spy on me, you dolt." Roxas stood up and halted Axel in his pacing and placed his hands on the redhead's shoulders. "What happened to trusting me, hmm?"

"I...uh..." Axel could only stutter helplessly, but then jump in surprise as soft lips met his own, drowning out whatever he had been about to stammer.

Before the kiss could progress any further, Roxas suddenly pulled back and stared into those green eyes, a hint of amusement clouding his own blue orbs. "You really are an idiot," he said, pushing Axel back down on the couch. "Naminé's one of my closest friends. I'd never date her."

"She likes you, though," Axel pouted, crossing his arms and staring at the floor. He was starting to feel really stupid.

"Yeah, I know." Roxas flopped down next to his lover boy. "But honestly, no matter what she feels, she's like a sister in my eyes. That's why I asked her to help me."

Insert confusion. "Help you with what?"

"..." Roxas stared at Axel and bit his lip, clearly torn between wanting to laugh his head off or to punch the redhead in the face. He settled for a wide grin and took his boyfriend's, intertwining his skinny fingers with his own. "Seriously, did you have stupid with your breakfast or something?"

"No! What the hell is going on?"

"...Earth to Mr. Brainless." Roxas leaned forward and pecked Axel on the lips again, then lightly bopped him on the forehead. "It's our one-year anniversary."

"..."

"August thirteenth. I remember it like it was yesterday...I saw you in the window of that pizza place you used to work at, and one of the pizzas was in flames. You nearly set the place on fire...and then—"

"—You came in outta nowhere and used the fire extinguisher I didn't know was there," Axel finished, finally smiling a bit. He squeezed Roxas' hand. "Bet you regret it now, hmm?"

"Nah." Roxas tweaked Axel's nose with his free hand. "I haven't this whole year, have I?"

The little smile that had shadowed the redhead's face suddenly disappeared. "No, but...why did it look like you were giving Naminé a ring?"

That was Axel for you. Blunt and to the point.

To his surprise, though, this sudden question caused the blond to look away with a faint red tint staining his cheeks. Roxas definitely wasn't the blushing type, so it provoked Axel to raise an eyebrow in further question.

"I, um..." He scratched his temple sheepishly. "Well...you and Naminé have the same ring size, so I was...err...seeing how the ring looked on someone's finger instead of in a display case."

Axel, for once in his life, was totally speechless. He simply sat there totally stunned, until a light squeeze from their still-entwined hands shook him out of his shock. "You got me a ring?"

"Well, I was going to, but then I realized it was kinda dumb," Roxas explained in a rush. "You're not a ring kind of guy, and plus, most of the stuff in the jewelry store was awful. Real gaudy and all that." He let go of Axel's hand for a moment and reached into his pocket. "So I got you this instead."

A small black box was shoved under the pyro's nose, and he blinked for a moment before slowly taking it. This was all too much to absorb—just a little while ago, he had been convinced Roxas was dumping him for a girl, and now he was getting a gift in celebration of their one-year anniversary. _A whole year..._

Without another moment's hesitation, Axel flipped the box open. Sitting on a little bed of satin was a small silver charm that appeared to be half of a heart. "What is this?" he asked, picking it up in slight awe.

"An earring," Roxas replied nervously. "I, well..." He pushed a tuft of his spiky hair up, revealing the opposite half of the heart in his pierced ear. "Since I decided you weren't a ring kind of guy and all. So I got you an ear_ring. _Ha, ha."

Axel grinned deviously and quickly put on his half, realizing that it had been quite some time since he had worn any earrings. Not that he would need to now; he was never taking this baby off.

"You like it?"

"Hell yeah!" Axel was still grinning. "But just so you know, I'm going to embarrass the crap out of you for the next week."

"Why?" Roxas cried.

"For disappearing and making me worry so much!" Axel jumped off the couch and ran towards the closet, shuffling through several clothing items and finally pulled some out. He scampered towards the door, laughing like a maniac.

Roxas' eyes widened in panic. "You wouldn't _dare._"

"Oh yes I would!"

"Axel! Axel, get back here! AXEL! _AXEL! _DON'T YOU _DARE_ LEAVE THE HOUSE IN THAT HALTER TOP!"

"What about the skirt?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

--

_Ahahaha. -falls over- _

Xigbar is totally tubular. Lyke woah. o.o

Please **review **because you are all so awesome like that. ;D Hmm...I ran out of cake sooo...brownies for everybody! And I bet you didn't know that I  
make the best brownies EVER. Yup. It' s a fact. xP Reviewer special:D


	5. Sunset

_WOO-HOO! Finally, a new theme. And the first draft of this one was handwritten, no doubt. x.X Yay for boredom!_

This one is actually -gasp- pretty serious, but I hope you guys still like it. Even though it doesn't seem like it, **this one is also AU**, so keep that in mind. Come to think of it, it could be another take on the 'nobodies-are-doomed-to-darkness' thing. Hrm. o.O But interpret it however you'd like. That's what fanfiction is for, am I right? xD And it's got some language in it, and a tiny hint at a would-be smut scene, but I don't have the guts to do one, so nyeah. xP

Once again, thank you everybody for all of the awesome reviews you've been leaving! You guys rockage my sockage! Only two more themes after this...-le sob-

On with the story!

**Theme: Sunset  
Rating: T-ish**

Everybody in Twilight Town loved the sunset. It was understandable, given that the tiny place existed in the realm of those moments of that great ball of fire disappearing into the horizon. It was almost required of citizens to sit and watch it every evening—not that they minded, since they all loved every one.

Not Roxas. He utterly loathed and detested them.

If any of his friends knew this, they'd without a doubt bop him unconscious with a Struggle club. Heck, even that hard-head Hayner didn't mind going to the best place to watch the light retreat—perfectly named Sunset Terrace—and watch at the sky's performance. Pence sometimes brought his camera on the really colorful nights and Olette would always gaze dreamily, giggling about how 'romantic' it was.

Roxas knew better. Sunsets were far from 'romantic'; they were downright horrible, but he would never want to bust the brunette's bubble. He'd let her happily dream while she could.

The four friends had made their way to the Terrace one evening, laughing about how Seifer had gotten clobbered by meek little Vivi at a practice Struggle match a little big ago. No doubt the muscular blond and his possé were sitting somewhere to watch the sunset, giving the silent treatment to the little black mage. Well, at least Fuu would. Rai was most likely babbling about the match with Seifer off to the side, rolling his eyes at every 'ya know?'

--

"_Hey Roxas, ya know that new place that opened? That club—Kingdom Hearts. It's supposed to be really cool. Wanna go with me sometime?_

--

"Roxaaaas. Earth to Roxas."

Said blond blinked and shook his head. He quickly realized Hayner had asked him something—though what, he had no clue.

"Uhh..."

"Bonehead," Hayner grinned. "I asked if you brought the munny for the ice cream. Clearly we need to fill you up with it if you space out on us again."

"Y-yeah," Roxas replied, giving his friend a half-smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Olette's handmade munny pouch, which no doubt held just enough for four sea-salt ice creams—the Twilight Town specialty and the quartet's favorite. "Right here."

"Alright, who wants to do the honor of buying them?" Pence asked. Everyone looked at each other and quickly cried, "Not it!"—with the exception of Pence.

The dark-haired boy's shoulders slumped and he sighed good-naturedly. "Fine, fine. Roxas, hand over the munny." The blond tossed the pouch to him. "Back in a flash."

"Hurry!" Olette urged. "We should all be together for the sunset!"

--

"_A new club?_ _Well, yeah, I guess so. How 'bout I tell the rest of the gang and we all go this Friday or something. It'll be together as a group thing."_

"_Er, well, that's not really what I meant..."_

"_Uh, okay. What, you told me about it for no reason?"_

"_No, um...I was wondering if it could be you and me. Just the two of us."_

--

"Roxas, take your ice cream."

The blond started a bit at Pence's voice, but managed a slight smile and a "thanks" before taking the blue frozen treat. Well, if he had to sit at Sunset Terrace and watch the sky, at least he had ice cream.

The four friends sat around in silence for a moment, only the sound of slurping ice cream filling the air. Finally, Olette stopped and giggled, still staring at the sky.

Hayner raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Well," the petite brunette began, taking another lick of her melting ice cream. "I was just thinking that practically everyone in town watches the sunset."

"So?" Hayner shrugged.

"But has anybody ever seen the sun_rise_?" she continued, glancing around at her friends. The three boys stopped slurping ice cream and glanced at each other, shaking their heads in defeat. Olette smiled. "Thought not."

"What, have you?" Pence asked through a mouth full of blue goop.

"Not recently."

"So why bring it up all of the sudden?"

She looked straight up into the sky, letting her ice cream dangle in one hand. "Just thinking, I guess. I wonder if the sunrise is as pretty as the sunset."

"I wouldn't know," Hayner laughed.

--

"_..."_

"_Roxas?_ _Did you hear me?"_

"_...Yeah."_

"_Sooo how 'bout it?"_

"_What brought this on? Why me?"_

"_I've been thinking too much lately, and it's all your fault"_

"_Whaaat?"_

"_Kidding._ _I just...I don't know, I feel like I'm something instead of nothing around you. You know what I mean?"_

"_Yeah...I do."_

"_So will you go with me?"_

"_Am I going to regret this?"_

"_Stop teasing me, Shorty. If I have anything to say about it, you'll never regret this."_

"_...Hey!_ _I'm not short!"_

--

"I'm amazed at Vivi," Hayner said. "He was unbelievable! And Seifer calls i _us _lame? HA! I'd beat him in a hundred Struggles if I could!" He waved his nearly-finished ice cream stick as though it was a club.

"Puh-leeze," Pence laughed. "Roxas would kick your butt before you could even i _get _to Seifer!" He gave his spiky-haired friend a nudge. "You i _do_ have Struggle bragging rights for the year."

"Yeah," Roxas finally said, cheering up a bit. He gave Hayner a friendly punch on the arm. "If you can't beat _me, _there's no _way_ you could take Seifer down."

Hayner grinned. "You just got lucky."

"I've _been _lucky. Remember all the matches we've done since the tournament?"

"Fine, fine! I give! Roxas is the greatest Struggler ever. Happy now?"

Blue eyes rolled. "Sure, sure."

"_Boys,_" Olette warned.

"Whaaat?" Roxas and Hayner complained in unison, attempting to sound innocent. They glanced at each other for a moment and all four friends suddenly fell into laughter. There was really nothing horribly amusing about the conversation, but laughter would keep them together for that much longer.

Roxas hated being alone.

--

"_Alright, I'll give. That was actually pretty fun."_

"_Told you._ _I'm _always _right."_

"_What?"_

"_I'm always right. Got it memorized?"_

"_I heard you the first time, stupid."_

"_Well, you sounded like you didn't. You coming in or what?"_

"_This late?_ _Isn't someone home?"_

"_Nah._ _My roommate went totally AWOL and I haven't heard for him in a week or so, that dumb son of a bitch."_

"_...Nice."_

"_Yeah, he's a jackass. So, you coming? I'd really rather not being alone, to be honest."_

"_Heh._ _Yeah, I'll come in."_

--

"Oh, look." Olette pointed directly above her. "The sky's really pretty. The clouds look like they're gold."

"Aw, I didn't bring my camera," Pence complained, eyes scanning the vast colors above them. "Oh, well. Maybe it'll be like this tomorrow."

"Doubt it," Hayner interjected. "The sunset's never the same. Maybe that's why we watch it all the time."

"What do you mean?" Olette asked.

Roxas wanted to jump in and answer—tell them all that the sunset was like life; seemingly endless, yet going by far too quickly. It was constantly changing, little by little, every moment passing without notice until you realized that you missed something worth seeing. However, he knew better than to interrupt Hayner while he was babbling, and he certainly could when he wanted to.

To the blond's surprise, though, Hayner's answer was relatively simple: "It's like a light show, only you never know what it's going to perform. Best kind of entertainment, if you ask me." He paused, then grinned. "Short of Seifer getting totally _owned _by Vivi, that is."

Olette and Pence rolled their eyes. "Hayner, we were there. We know." Pence gave an exasperated sigh.

Hayner continued to laugh. "I can't help it! Seifer's face was _priceless._" He clapped a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "You should beat him again tomorrow. Maybe then he'll quit acting like he owns the town."

"Maybe," Roxas shrugged. "But he is the head of the disciplinary committee. He's used to being the boss."

"Yeah, the boss of his possé," Hayner grumbled.

--

"_Turn this way. No, a little more to the left."_

"_This is stupid. Can I take off this damn blindfold already?"_

"_Not until I say so."_

"_You're being incredibly bossy today."_

"_Shut it. It's the thirteenth—our anniversary."_

"_What does that have to do with anything?"_

"_Means I get to boss you around all day, Shorty."_

"_Shut up! And it's _our _anniversary, not just _yours_. Are we there yet?"_

"_You're really impatient, you know that?"_

"_Well, can you blame me! Just tell me where the hell we are and I'll think twice about running away from you."_

"_Like you could."_

"_What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Heh, heh...fine. There you go."_

"_...The beach?"_

"_I thought we could watch the sunset together. You know an 'aww' kinda thing. Go ahead; tell me how adorable I am."_

"_You suck."_

"_No, I blow."_

"_...You're just _asking _for me to toss you over a cliff, aren't you?"_

--

Silence gradually fell over the friends as they sat back and watched the sun retreat. The ice creams were long gone, leaving a salty-sweet taste on Roxas' lips.

He began to wonder why he still came out here. Sure, it was always fun hanging out with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, but the sunset was becoming painful. Like Hayner had said, it was as though the sky was performing a different light show every night—but it was always ended the same: dark, bleak, and frightening.

Roxas wasn't easily scared. While people usually joked that he didn't have a fearful bone in his body, this was a lie. He wasn't just good at hiding fear; he easily covered up just about every emotion he felt. Emotions weren't something to waste without reason, or maybe he had used them all without realizing it. That would definitely explain the numb, foggy haze he usually found himself in.

Or maybe he was just still hiding.

--

_He couldn't remember when they'd stopped talking. He didn't know if this was bad or good—words weren't important, but sometimes they were needed._

_Apparently this wasn't the case._

_Even so, it was exciting; every time they held hands, lay back in each other's embrace. It was especially thrilling when their eyes met, if only for a split second—at times, the emerald orbs he found himself drowning in would become too much and he would just want to give all of himself away._

--

His thoughts were interrupted by humming. _Loud _humming, although it was a vaguely familiar tune.

"What's that?" Roxas asked, realizing that it was coming from Olette.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"That song. Or whatever you were just humming."

She smiled. "I'm not quite sure, but it's been in my head all day. Maybe it's from a song or something, but it's still awfully pretty, don't you think?" The tune again escaped her throat and filled the air, somehow sending Roxas's heart pounding and breaking in the same instant.

"Y-yeah," he finally agreed.

--

_It started and ended too quickly for his taste. He grabbed the other's hand and gave him a cocky grin. "I may be younger than you, but you don't have to treat me like a kid."_

_An equally evil grin was his reply. "Is that your way of saying 'Let's make out until the windows are steamy and people start to wonder what we're doing in the middle of a parking lot'?"_

_A laugh._ "_Interpret it however you want, flamer."_

"_Or maybe 'Kiss me you fool! Your incredible good looks are driving me insane! I can't live another moment without feeling your lips on mine!' "_

"_You don't need to look good to drive me insane."_

"_Thanks...hey, wait!"_

_Their faces quickly grew inhumanly closer. When it happened, it didn't know, but he decided to take the plunge. "Shut up," he said, finally keeping the other quiet with the exception of their lips meeting with loud, wet noises again and again. A moan escaped into the confines of the car, though he wasn't exactly sure of whose it was._

_Music to his ears._

--

They were all still talking, but Roxas wasn't following the words. The sun had already set, leaving them shroud in an in-between world of light and dark. Twilight. The town, given its name, was usually set in this kind of light, but it was always the worst after a sunset. Roxas's stomach clenched painfully.

Or was that his heart?

--

_Their slicked bodies stuck together, covered in a film of sweat. They were each surprised to find lean, muscular frames hidden under all of the clothing—not that he was thinking about it. This, like practically everything else in his life, had just...happened._

_He didn't regret it, though. He never would. It was worth it just to see the other in his most vulnerable state as he was now—panting to keep up with their racing hearts, their naked bodies close together with their legs entwined, them being so close in the most perfect way possible._

_He hated to admit to sounding cliché, but it was everything he thought it would be, even though his lover had fallen asleep about three seconds later, loud snores echoing in the room._

--

"Hey..."

--

_Sunset._ _It wasn't a real time of day, but it might as well have been._

--

Hayner, Pence, and Olette looked up at Roxas at the same time, wondering what he wanted. They were all getting ready to go home, maybe goof off and play video games before going to bed. Roxas usually followed the same ritual, but now he remained sitting stock-still, his hands clenching into fists.

"Do you guys remember..."

--

"_This town's stuck in the sunset."_

"_Twilight."_

"_Whatever. But...I can't stay here."_

--

"...when I first moved here?" The other three nodded. "Did I ever..."

--

"_What? Why?"_

"_I just can't."_

"_Give me a reason!"_

"_...I can't exist in a place like this."_

"_What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"_

"_..."_

"_Answer me, damnit!"_

"_I'm not needed here."_

"_Huh?"_

--

"...introduce you to Axel?"

--

"_Axel! What the hell are you _talking _about?"_

"_You have another life now, Shorty."_

"_Huh?"_

"_You don't need me."_

"_What?" Roxas was appalled for a moment, but an overwhelming emotion—something he couldn't quite put a name to--passed through him and he clutched his chest in agony. He never wanted to admit it, but..._

"_Axel, I need you! I _do _need you, you stupid, flaming, son of a bitch!"_

"_You're in better hands now."_

--

"Who?" Hayner asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Axel? Who's that?"

"Axel!" Roxas cried, a little more desperate this time. His nails were stinging into the skin of his palms, and he willed his friends to remember—even just to recognize the name. _Anything._

Pence was scratching his head. "No...I don't think you've ever even mentioned a guy like that. Did you get the ultimate brain freeze or something?"

"You told me last week that nothing like that ever existed!" Hayner exclaimed, mock-punching Pence. "Who's the bonehead now?"

"_Hayner!_"

Olette was still glancing worriedly at Roxas, but quickly drew her attention to the other boys. Even the slightest thing could provoke Hayner on an hour-long rant. She had learned early in their friendship to stop him as soon as possible.

Roxas, however, was staring into the darkness with a look of disbelief. His heart, which had been pounding profusely moments earlier, had now slowed so much it was as though it wasn't even there.

As though it didn't exist.

--

"_Better hands? What are you talking about?"_

"_You'll know. I gotta go."_

"_Don't!"_

"_I just want you to know something..."_

--

Roxas looked up at his best friends. Olette was trying to shut an aggravated Hayner up while Pence was holding his arms up in a teasing surrender, probably trying to piss Hayner off even more. He unclenched his fists, ready to walk right past them and head for home when Hayner suddenly held out his hand.

"C'mon Roxas!" he laughed. "Us against them!"

"What?" Olette cried. "I don't want any part in this!"

"Too late." Hayner grinned and turned to Roxas. "Whaddya say?"

The blond paused, staring out into the dark abyss of the sky, willing a part of his heart to beat again. "All right," he finally agreed, standing up and giving his best friend a high-five with Pence and Olette grumbling in the background.

--

"_What?"_

"_You make me feel..."_

--

He knew now.

The part of himself that didn't exist was very well somewhere, unseen by the human eye. It was caught in neither light nor dark, but somewhere in between.

-- _It was sunset as Axel disappeared into the nearly-night sky. Maybe he had always been meant for the dark—and knew it. _

_Maybe he just didn't want Roxas to get lost in something so lonely and endless._

_Maybe Axel had known this and couldn't stop himself from falling for a spiky haired, bad-ass kid who ate too much ice cream._

_Maybe he pushed Roxas away at the very last second, wanting the kid to hate him so there would be a reason to stay away from the darkness._

_At any rate, Axel wanted him to have a choice._

--

Sunsets made him unsure. Tempted him towards the darkness he knew Axel didn't want him in.

Any other time, though, he was alright.

--

_"Hey, you new around here?"_

_"Yeah. My name's Roxas."_

_"Hey. I'm Hayner, and this is Pence and Olette." The lanky, yet tough boy gestured to another guy with a mop of dark hair and a petite girl with  
dazzling green eyes. "We need a fourth person for this Struggle match. You in?"_ _"_

_Sure."_

--

Light came in all different ways. Friendship was the one that kept him on track, since with those guys, there was never a dull moment.

Still, the little part of his heart that didn't beat was for _him._

Some bits of light could never go out.

_"You make me feel... _

_...like I have a heart."_

_----_

_D'aww. Everybody give Axel hugs. -glomps him-_

By the way, the music Olette was humming was Roxas' them from KHII, aka, the background music that plays when he's looking up at Sora's pod and says the summer vacation line. I love that scene...-swoons- But yeah, it came on the CD I was playing, and I thought it fit. :D

Oh yes, Happy late AkuRoku day, which was the 13th! August 13th...8-13...ahahaha. -sweatdrops-

Errr, yes. Brownies for everybody! And even more if you leave a **review **because you guys are all so awesomely awesome ;D


	6. Jealousy

_Hellooo everybody! -waves- Heh, heh...I actually had a kinda angsty story for this one, but then some on LJ gave me a glorious idea. -evil grin- Muhahaha! That, and the contest in this one prompted me...it was a real contest for this relay I was at a few years. My friends and I entered our friend Andrew in it. He lost. So sad. xD _

Other than that, not much to say about this one...sorry for any horrible spacing problems and the whatnot. I'm beginning to think that this site hates me. x.x Lame. Umm, oh yes, the halter top and skirt Axel was threatening Roxy with in 'Rumor' makes an appearance here. xD The stories still aren't related, but...yes. Rawr.

_Ahahaha. Yes. LAUGH WITH ME MINIONS...err...readers. ;D_

**Theme: Jealousy  
Rating: T-ish**

There were a thousand—no, a thousand and one—things wrong with the picture in front of him. He wanted to shoot whoever started this event in the foot, but there were way too many witnesses.

And half of them made up what made it all so wrong.

Well, maybe not half. There were only fifteen or so contestants in this stupid contest, and at least a hundred people at the event. Total aggravation messed with your math skills.

Roxas let out an irritated sigh and crossed his arms, kicking at the grass in front of him. Why, oh why did even bother to leave the house? Sure, this whole thing was for a good cause. Who wouldn't want to go to an all-night fair (complete with several rented carnival rides) and help raise money for the local hospital? It was all in good fun. Besides, a lot of the booths there were selling ice cream, and Roxas _loved _ice cream.

However, all of the ice cream in the world wouldn't convince him that this wasn't so very, very wrong—'this' being the fair's totally random contest of the night.

And this year's contest?

What guy looked the best in drag.

The blond groaned, noticing how much his friends were cheering. What the heck was _wrong _with them? This was not right! Not right at all!

His best friend, Hayner, stopped cheering for a second and slapped a hand on Roxas' shoulder, grinning goofily. "Hey man, lighten up! If anyone should be cheering right now, it should be you!"

"That's right," Olette, the only girl in their little group, agreed. She had a small smile on her face, but amusement still twinkled in her eyes. "C'mon where's your sense of humor? The crowd's going to love this, and we'll raise a lot of money for the hospital!"

"It'll be embarrassing," Roxas muttered, now staring at the grass. He refused to look at the contestants.

"Geez Roxas, it's not like _you're _the one up there," Pence, the last person in their quartet of friends, grinned. He gestured up towards the makeshift stage, where all of the contestants were waiting off to the side. "You should be happy we didn't make _you _do this!"

"No, just my boyfriend," the blond snarled. He looked up and glared at nothing in particular. He wanted nothing more than to leave, leave, leave and keep his pride intact. The whole freaking town knew about his relationship with Axel, and that was embarrassing enough. But his boyfriend—who wasn't really all that manly in the first place—dressed like a girl?

No, no, no, _a thousand times NO!_

However, he was fighting a losing battle. When the coordinator of the event had announced the contest, Axel had not only volunteered to go up there and make a fool out of himself (after seeing how excited everyone was about it), but let Hayner, Pence, and Olette dress him up in freakiest girly-outfit they could manage on such short notice. Olette had even done his hair.

And now he was going up in front of this crowd just to prove how idiotic he was!

Not that Roxas hadn't tried to stop him. Oh no, no, no, he had begged, pleaded, attempted to cry, and got down on his hands and knees. He had even threatened 'no bodily contact for a month', but Axel just gave him a half-smirk and said, "You wouldn't last. I'm irresistible."

_How _irresistible, though, was something Hayner, Pence, and Olette really did _not _need to know. Luckily they found something to shut the redhead up: an application of Olette's cherry-flavored lip gloss, to which Pence had laughed and said, "Now he's your cherry pie."

Bad thoughts...baaad thoughts.

Moving on to thoughts not cherry pie-related...

"Thank you, thank you all for coming out here tonight to help raise money for Curaga Medical Center!" The announcer and apparently host of the event, a round, hairy man wearing an oddly bright sweater, was standing at the front of the stage, microphone in hand. "Right now, we will have the start of our contest of the evening—each contest will come out here and perform to a song chosen completely at random, give themselves a spiffy female name, and then say a few words as to why they should win and be crowned Mr. Queen! Without further ado, let's begin!"

The crowd burst into frenzied cheers, except for Roxas, who was still standing with his arms crossing, glaring into space. Of course.

The...'contest' then began, sending all of the guys/girls/whatever dancing like crazy people. Roxas grudgingly watched, even though he wanted nothing more than to run far, far away. He thought he recognized a few people, though, as time wore on; Axel's frenemy Marluxia was up there (those two had known each other for ages, yet were constantly fighting about something stupid) and so was Mickey, a short, squeaky kid he somewhat knew. Ha, ha, his girlfriend Minnie had probably put him up to this. He was totally regretting it if the robotic way he danced to 'Hakuna Matata' was any indication.

Mr. Announcer certainly wasn't kidding when he said the songs would be chosen at random.

About halfway through the contestants, it was Axel's turn. Roxas hope for both of their sakes—but more for his own—that whatever song they picked for Axel was at least cool. Some kind of manly, gangsta music that involved no booty shaking, just a bunch of hand gestures. Yeah, that'd be...manly.

To his shock, though, some sort of salsa-like tune began blaring through the speakers. He frowned, trying to remember where he had heard the song before. After a moment, it came to him.

Oh no.

Oh _hell _no!

He wasn't really going to dance to--!

_Oh baby when you talk like that,_  
_You make a woman go mad._  
_So be wise and keep on,_  
_Reading the signs of my body..._

"Hello everybody!" Axel waved his arms and spoke in what Roxas assumed was his 'girly-man voice'. "I'm Lea, and my hips don't lie!"

_And I'm on tonight,  
__You know my hips don't lie,_  
_And I'm starting to feel it's right._  
_All the attraction, the tension,_  
_Don't you see baby, this is perfection._

"Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, kill me, kill me, kill me!" Roxas muttered with his hands over his ears, trying not to look at his boyfriend dressed in drag who was dancing to a song about sexy hips.

"Aw c'mon Roxas!" Olette was clapping along to Axel's very..._fluid _dance. Wow, had he ever taken belly dancing lessons or something? "He looks great up there!"

"Yeah, if it wasn't for his lack of chest, you'd almost think he was actually female." Hayner winked and continued cheering. Roxas couldn't believe it. Even _Hayner _was enjoying this! Was there no end to the embarrassment! And Pence was taking pictures of it all! The horror! The absolute total _proof _of all the shame!

He was going to _kill _Axel. No, first he was going to find out where he learned to shake his hips like that and _then _kill him.

There were a couple of cheering girls towards the front of the stage, screaming and squealing in appreciation. Axel shook his hips towards the edge, winking appreciatively at the squeaking fans. He was _way _too good at dancing to this 'music' for Roxas's taste. What was he _doing_, getting all of those females so excited? The whole town knew he was a flaming homosexual! Couldn't they tell he was just degrading himself by doing this?

Pence was busy taking pictures and laughing along the rest of the audience. Everyone was clapping to the beat of the song, really getting into it. To Roxas' horror, one girl yelled, "WHOO-HOO! TAKE IT OFF!"

"That does it!" Roxas growled and started tearing his hair out, trying to find a way through the mass of cheering people so he could beat Axel to a bloody pulp. Yes, that would be fantastic. No more hip swaying for Axel, nuh-UH.

He didn't get very far in his trek, however, when someone pulled on his shoulder and yanked him back. "Roxas! Where do you think you're going?" It was Hayner.

Roxas narrowed his eyes into little blue slits. "I'm going to teach that dumbass a lesson or two. Or eight. Or thirteen. How could he _do _this?"

"Aw c'mon Roxas," Pence grinned, snapping away on the camera. "You have to admit that he _does _look good up there. Did you see the way those girls up front were screaming earlier? He's definitely going to win."

"Arrguh..."

"Hmm..." Olette, who had been fairly quiet up until this point (although she did clap along to the song) stared at the blond and cocked her head a bit. Roxas was about to ask her why he was being scrutinized in the middle of a squealing fangirl audience when she broke into a small smile.

"What...?" Roxas was getting worried. Olette had that _twinkle _in her eye, the same one she had had when she was dressing Axel up for his 'performance.'

"I get it now!" She clapped her hands together and started bouncing on her heels. "You're _jealous_, aren't you?" Naturally, she had spoken that last sentence loudly with gusto, causing everyone in a five-foot radius of them to stare at the blond like he was some kind of sideshow freak.

Well, he already felt like one. He was the one dating the hip-swinging, belly-dancing freak onstage, after all.

"I am not _jealous!_" Roxas hissed. "Whatever gave you a stupid idea like that?"

Olette was unaffected by his harsh tone, mostly because Hayner and Pence were now grinning deviously and nodding in agreement. "You're jealous that he's getting all this attention from all these girls and hasn't looked at you _once _since he's been up there. Right?"

Damn it. Olette was always one to get to the heart of matter.

Roxas, however, didn't let it deter him. "I am not jealous of that lamewad!" His hands clenched into fists, now unable to look any of his friends in the eye; instead, staring at some point past all of their heads. "He's stupid for doing this, and those girls can scream over him all they _want_. He's stupid. Like this stupid contest, which is—"

"Stupid?" Hayner supplied, causing Olette and Pence to burst into fits of laughter. Roxas just growled and stomped towards a relatively empty part of the fairgrounds, shoving his way through hoards of people. His friends just rolled their eyes at each other, knowing he'd calm down once Axel was offstage.

--

"Stupid hips...stupid contest...stupid...grrrr." Roxas definitely wasn't in the best mood at the moment. He had disappeared near the port-o-potties, hiding behind a nearby tree. He hoped nobody would bother him there.

He couldn't believe Olette had accused him of being jealous. _Jealous! _Jealous of _what? _A bunch of idiot, screeching fans? Axel's booty-shaking abilities? The fact that the redhead was most likely going to win the title of 'Mr. Queen' and people wouldn't stop bugging him all night?

Roxas heaved a sighed, slumping against the tree trunk until he found himself sitting in dirt. Okay, maybe he shouldn't have just run off like that—his friends were only teasing him, after all—but the last thing he wanted was to come off as being envious of people who liked a good booty dancer. He knew he and Axel had a pretty good relationship—as scandalous as it was in their small town—but honestly, it was hard _not _to feel a stab of envy at the fact Axel would rather dance to stupid music in front of a large crowd than, say, feed his boyfriend ice cream.

He sighed again, thinking of just spending the rest of the night curled up at the base of the tree when he heard footsteps lightly crunching the grass behind him. He peered over his shoulder and saw that flamer, still dressed in a halter top and skirt. He'd ditched the sandals, Roxas dully noted, and had put his trademark black boots back on.

Gah. The redhead looked absolutely _ridiculous. _Roxas didn't want to talk to him while was wearing a freaking skirt—_and _he still had the makeup on. What the hell?

"Roxas?"

"Go away." The blond pulled his knees up to his chest, burying his face in them.

"Oh come _on._" You could practically _hear _the smirk. "Don't tell me I was _that _bad up there that you felt the need to run off."

"Don't you have a gaggle of girls to entertain?" Roxas' muffled voice asked, not bringing his face up to meet his boyfriend's.

Axel sighed, and Roxas heard him plop in the dirt next to him. "Look, this whole thing wasn't even my idea. Your friends dragged me into it, remember?"

"You didn't even _try _to stop them."

"So? It was all in good fun, right?" He poked the side of Roxas' head, causing the blond to look up with an angry glare. The redhead laughed and poked him again. "Don't even _try_ to look happy. Geez."

"It's not that, it's just..." Roxas rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the fact that Axel was smirking again. "You look like an idiot and I can't believe that everyone _liked _you so much. If you didn't do that stupid belly-dancing thing, you would've been booed off the stage in a heartbeat."

Axel frowned, not getting it at first. After a moment, a mischievous glint grew in his eyes and another smirk formed on his mouth. "Aww, was my widdle Roxy-poo _jealous _of all my fans?"

"Shut up."

"You were!" Axel was grinning now, unable to stop the laughter that racked his body. "You were jealous of all the attention I was getting!"

"Shut. Up." Blue eyes glared into green, attempting to smolder them.

Attempt failed.

"HA! Ha, ha, ha!" Axel didn't stop laughing.

"Fine!" Roxas threw his arms up in defeat, leaning his head against the tree trunk and not looking at Axel. "Fine, I'll admit it! I was jealous. I was jealous because I thought we were going to this fair together and I'd finally get you to eat some ice cream, but then you got swarmed by all these _people _and I didn't have you anymore. Yes, I was jealous. You're stupid," he added as an afterthought, quickly standing up and walking towards somewhere, anywhere. Roxas wasn't the type to pour his emotions out to _anyone_, yet alone Axel. That rambling was closest to a heart-to-heart he'd spoken since getting together with the redhead.

Roxas was still blindly walking away, only thinking about how much of an _idiot _he had just sounded like when two skinny arms suddenly wrapped around his waist, halting his progress. He was yanked backwards and collided with the owner of the arms, whom of course was Axel.

Roxas spun around in his hold and stared up at him. Man, he really hated being so much shorter than the redhead. "What are you doing?"

"You're the stupid one," Axel muttered, leaning down to press their foreheads together. "Not even a gaggle of giggling girls could keep me away from you."

The blond was unable to hide a small smile, finally reaching his arms to wrap them around the redhead's slim hips. "But they just did, flamer. Everybody saw you dancing."

"Hel_lo,_" Axel sighed. "It's called fanservice. Duh."

"Suuure." Roxas rolled his eyes before they slid shut in response to Axel's descending lips. The kiss started out slow, as they usually did, but quickly gained speed—and tongue. Damn Axel and his kinky tongue. Damn it all.

Instead of reciprocating like he normally did (although he kept reminding himself that they _were _in a public place), Roxas pulled back and frowned.

"What?" Axel cocked his head, sending his mass of spikes flying.

"If you ever wear makeup again—which I hope you don't plan on anytime soon," Roxas started, tweaking Axel's nose. "Don't go for the cherry lip gloss. It tastes funny."

"Hmm..." The redhead traced his fingers up and down Roxas' spine, sending involuntary shivers through the younger boy. "What flavor would you prefer, then?"

"Your own, thank-you-very-much." A predatory grin made its way onto Axel's face. "That could be arranged..." He burst out laughing before running off, wanting to escape before the blond caught on and starting threatening him bodily harm—and not in the good way.

Roxas' face heated up a moment later and he instantly started running to catch the redhead. "Not like _that _you pervert!"

"Oh, but you know you like it!"

"Do not!"

"Liar!"

"Flamer!"

"Ice cream lover!"

"GIRL!"

"...Ouch." Axel stopped running, but he was still grinning. "At least I can shake my booty. Unlike some ice-cream loving blonds I know that don't even _have _a butt to shake."

"That's not what you said last night!" Roxas was glaring at him now, probably so out of breath he had no idea what he had just said.

"Nah, I was making _other _noises last night." Axel raised an eyebrow, resting his arms on Roxas' shoulders, who had finally caught up with him. "Tell you what—I'll go for some vanilla-flavored lip gloss. Vanilla-flavored me. What do you think?"

"You suck."

"No, how many times must we go through this—I _blow._"

"...Pervert."

"Aw, you love me for it." Axel dove in for another kiss.

"Yeah, yeah. You're lucky I don't lie like your hips."

_Smooch. _"Cornball."

"Shut up and buy me ice cream."

"After you help me out of the skirt, okay?" Insert evil grin.

"...Grrr."

"And now, our crowned Mr. Queen is..." The announcer's voice came out loud and suddenly, causing Roxas and Axel to jump out of each other's embrace. Where the heck had Mr. Announcer gotten a megaphone? Whatever.

"...Lea, whose hips don't lie!"

Roxas' mouth fell open and Axel wore a similar expression of shock before he quickly covered it with a grin. He turned and slipped and arm around the blond's shoulders, leading them back to the stage. "Hear that, Roxy? I'm royalty."

"You wish."

"That means you're my slave."

"_What!"_

"So, you were about to help me out of this skirt, my slave?"

"...I hate you."

--

_Slaaave! The T-rated kinkyness of it all! Le RAWR. ;D_

_Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. -sweatdrops- Only one more after this, wahhh. So sad. But I have another LJ challenge (this time RikuxSora centered) set that I'm going to be posting once I'm done with this, so look out for that. :D _

Like? Didn't like? Want some brownies? xD At any rate, please **review! **You guys are all awesome like that. I love how much people are loving these oneshots. It fills me with warmth. -grins-


	7. Embrace

_Awww, the last theme of this challenge! T.T Everybody sob. Laaame. _

On the other hand, today is also my birthday. Gimmie cake. xD Although I'm sure I'll be getting plenty of it later. Mmmyes, cake. -drool-

ANYWAY! Uhh yeah, last theme. xD I have no unearthly idea where it came from...blame Florida rainy season. Yeah, it messes with my head. Ahahaha. Although of course NOW it's not raining because Mother Nature doesn't like me. Wahhh. D:

Woo, off-track some more! Enjoy this last AkuRoku theme...even with all of its weirdness!

**Theme: Embrace**  
**Rating: T**

Rain, rain, go away, don't come again on any day.

Roxas huffed a sigh, slumping against the armrest of the couch. Large, heavy raindrops were splattering on the window he was gazing out of, obscuring the view so that he couldn't see more than a few feet outside. A distant rumble of thunder was heard, and Roxas inwardly hoped that this wouldn't turn into a huge storm. He wasn't a big fan of wild weather like this—it didn't help that his parents were out; either working overtime or schmoozing with friends—one or the other.

Another roll of thunder, this time louder, told the blond that this storm wasn't going to let up anytime soon. Ugh, this sucked. Roxas wasn't a big fan of storms, and it was even worse when he was home alone. Who knew when his parents would be home? Ack, sometimes he wished he had a sibling, so at least the house wouldn't feel so big and empty.

The storm was moving in close now. Roxas spotted a flash of lightning and out of boredom, started to count how far away it was when—

BZZT.

The power promptly went out.

Roxas drew in a nervous breath, hoping it was just a blip due to the weather, but there was another boom of thunder and a lightning strike—yeah, the power was pretty much out until the storm passed. Man, who knew how long that would be—another hour or the whole night?

Roxas shivered, even inside the black-and-red hoodie he was wearing and grabbed his cell phone. He had to talk to someone, anyone, just to shake him out of the nervous feelings swirling in his gut. He hoped the phone would still have service.

His first thought was to ring his parents, but he quickly squashed the idea. He knew his mom and dad cared about him, but they were always telling him to buck up. No doubt they'd feel bothered just because Roxas was feeling lonely and—okay, he'd admit it—a little scared because of the storm.

As the rain continued to splatter outside, the blond flipped through the contacts on his phone. At every name he came to, he made up an excuse as to why he shouldn't call them, mostly because he was afraid a number of his friends would suddenly gain over-the-phone-mind-reading-powers and laugh at him for being such a kid. Well, he knew Naminé wouldn't; she was way too sweet for that...and Sora was probably scared, no, _terrified _of the storm, but the lucky duck was most likely snuggling up with Riku and trying to invent a way to cook microwaveable macaroni and cheese by flashlight or something.

Hmm, snuggling. Roxas wasn't a very big cuddler, but who wouldn't want to be in someone's embrace during a storm while the house was dark? Even someone without a romantic bone in their body would like it.

Sighing to himself again, the blond scrolled through his phone until he came to Axel's number and promptly gave him a call.

Roxas and Axel had a really funny kind of friendship. Relationship. Friend-lationship, he finally decided. The two had met each other by pure chance in school (though Roxas had to wonder how he _hadn't _noticed Axel's bright, ketchup-colored hair) and it went down up, and sideways from there. The blond couldn't stand Axel at first—the redhead was always getting into trouble and was far too cocky for his own good—but he'd manage to worm his way into Roxas' life anyway.

Once he'd gotten over the initial shock of actually getting along with Axel, Roxas quickly found himself...well, _attracted _to the fiery redhead. He couldn't make sense of it in his head, but he knew the feeling was mutual. It was the strangest thing, since both boys had once been involved with females like they were 'supposed' to be—in fact, Naminé had been Roxas's first relationship ever—but somehow, the two ended up finding each other.

Not that they were in an actual relationship or anything—oh nooo. The one time they were alone and got the guts to start making out, Roxas' mother had walked in on them. The night ended with her screaming for her son to be "cured of his gayness with that flaming homosexual!"

Needless to say, Axel didn't come over much anymore.

However, now no one was home and the house was dark. Hopefully Axel would risk the pouring rain and lightning to come see him...

"Hey Roxas! What's cracking?"

'_Finally you answered, stupid.'_ "Uh, nothing really. The power's out and nobody's here—"

"So you figured I'd come over and keep your sweet ass company?"

Roxas flushed profusely, suddenly glad that the house was dark so he wouldn't risk seeing how red his face was in any mirrors. He finally cleared his throat into the phone after a pause. "Well...whatever. It's not like I'm asking you to or anything."

"But you do want me to, right?" Ugh, _damn_ that man. You could practically _hear_ the smirk in his voice.

"...I didn't say I did."

"Heh, heh. I'll be over in ten minutes Shorty." _Click._

"I'm not short!" Roxas cried to a dial tone. Hmph. Ten minutes? Axel lived a good distance away and had no car—how was he going to get over in ten minutes during a raging storm?

Ah, whatever. As long as he came over.

Exactly thirteen minutes later—Roxas knew because he'd been staring at the clock on his cell phone to keep his mind off of the impending doom outside—he heard a series of weird noises coming from around the house: first a sickening, metal-scraping sound, a loud _splat_ (that really was the only way to describe it), more scraping metal, then—

_DING-DONG!_

Roxas jumped about a foot off the couch. He was expecting Axel, but that couldn't be him at the door. Besides, Axel wouldn't have made that 'splat' noise (he didn't want to _think_ of what the metal scraping was all about). Axel would've made more of a crunchy noise, what with his extremely bony limbs and all.

So who had made all that noise? A burglar? A murderer? The Boogieman?

'_Don't be stupid,'_ Roxas thought. '_A murderer or robber wouldn't be out in this weather.'_ The Boogeyman, however...

_DING-DONG!_

Did the Boogieman ring doorbells? Or maybe he had sent a zombie to ring it while he snuck up behind the couch. Or maybe—

_BOOM!_

Roxas again jumped about a foot in the air, effectively falling off the couch. He quickly stood up in a scramble of limbs. Well, now that he was up, he figured he might as well answer the door, which was still ringing. Even if it was the Boogieman or a crazy serial killer.

Roxas slowly shifted towards the offending door—he was still feeling kinda jumpy after that last clap of thunder—and gradually turned the knob. He peeked through the crack he had opened, feeling kind of stupid since he still couldn't see who was there.

"Hello?" he asked in a hushed whisper, which was pretty much drowned out by the rain pounding around the house.

Whoever was out there was apparently tired of waiting and yanked the door open. Roxas still couldn't see who it was—it was dark and there was no porch light since the power was out—until one extremely bright strike of lightning seemed to light up the world for a moment—including who was at the door.

"IT THE TWILIGHT TOWN LAKE MONSTER!" Roxas shrieked, making a mad dive for the cough and covering his head with a pillow. Maybe if he played dead, he wouldn't get eaten or whatever it was lake monsters did...

Hey, wait a second. Since when had Twilight Town had a lake?

"Roxas?" a voice called from the doorway, barely audible because of the storm. Nevertheless, the blond instantly recognized it.

He uncovered his head from the pillow and stared. "Axel?"

"The one and only." Axel gingerly stepped into the house and wiped his feet with a grimace. It seemed like a lost cause because the redhead was absolutely _covered_ from head to toe in mud.

Roxas just stared, his mouth halfway hanging open. Well, no wonder he had taken Axel for some kind of swamp creature—especially with the hair. Ugh. Axel's normally bouncy and spiky hair was weighed down with dirt, making him look way scarier than normal.

Finally Roxas realized he'd been staring for quite a bit. He cleared his throat nervously. "How the hell did you manage _that?_"

"I fell."

"...What?"

"Yeah. I rode my bike over here and there was a puddle a lot deeper than I thought it was. That stupid metal deathtrap tossed me right into that nice mud puddle in your front yard."

"There's a mud puddle in my front yard?"

"Got it memorized?" Axel teased with a smirk. Roxas just rolled his eyes. At least now he knew what those horrible noises outside had been—and hey, good to know that Axel went 'splat' when he was tossed in the mud.

"So can I get a towel or something?" Axel suddenly asked, snapping Roxas out of his train of thought.

The blond made a face. "I would, but then my parents would get pissed and probably figure out that you were here."

"Uh, wash them?"

"Mom doesn't like me using the washing machine. I almost caused an explosion last time I did." The near-explosion had mostly been Sora's fault, but Roxas wasn't going to let anyone know that.

Axel bit his tongue to keep himself from asking. "Okay then, can I get a change of clothes?"

"We're not the same size."

"Your dad's?"

"Are you kidding? He'd notice!"

Axel sighed. Grrr, this kid had such a convenient excuse for everything. "Okay, what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. I asked you to come over, not get covered in mud."

A sly smirk crossed the redhead's face. "Aww, is Roxy-poo afraid of a little mud?"

"Of course not!' Roxas huffed. "And don't call me 'Roxy', you asshole."

"So you want me to call you 'poo'?" Axel laughed. "Whatever floats your boat."

"Shut up!" Roxas would've thrown a pillow at the older teen had he not been dripping with mud.

"Oh c'mon," Axel said, breaking into a grin. "You know you like it!"

"Hmph."

"C'mere and gimmie a hug!"

"Are you insane!" Roxas cried, scrambling up on the couch as high as he could manage, but no avail. Axel was already crossing the spotless white carpet and track muddy footprints with every step. His grin grew even more devilish as he leaned in a tried to grab the blond, but Roxas was too quick. He jumped off the couch and dashed to the other side of the room, trying not to cringe in horror at the mess Axel was making.

"Aw, c'mon Roxas." Axel pouted as best he could, which just made him look queasy. He held out his arms. "I mean, isn't that why you called me over, Shorty?"

Roxas diligently ignored the 'Shorty' comment with an eyeroll. "You know, I probably have some bigger stuff around you could wear. Let me look. Just...don't move," he added before flipping open his cell to use as a flashlight and disappeared down the hall.

After a few minutes of rummaging through his drawers, he found some suitable clothes and made his way back to the living room, bumping into a wall here and there. It was creepy how the house was so silent without the usual hum of electronics. He silently tanked the fact Axel and his mud-coated self was right in the living room.

When he returned to said room, Roxas saw the redhead standing in the same spot he'd left him, looking slightly bored. He perked up considerably when Roxas cleared his throat.

"I found you stuff," the blond said unnecessarily. "It's probably a little too big, but it's better than dirtying my house even more."

"Yeah, whatever," Axel replied. "Where am I putting my clothes?"

"Uhh..." Roxas frowned. He was going to suggest dumping them in the bathroom, but he realized that he didn't want Axel dragging his muddy self through the house and messing up the carpet into oblivion. Crap. Finally he heaved a sigh. "Put them outside, I guess, so you're not making a huge mess."

"You want me to change right here?" Axel grinned slowly. "Up for a little striptease, eh?"

"No!" Roxas cried, his face heating up for the second time that night. "I'll, uh, leave the room—or turn around, um—"

"Calm down." Axel was tugging at the bottom of his filthy, once-white T-shirt. "We're both dudes, so who cares? And besides, I'm wearing underwear," he added with a wink.

"R-Right." '_Yes Axel, but you don't make out with someone who's just 'one of the dudes', now do you?'_

Roxas sank back down on the couch, trying not to stare too much as Axel peeled off his mud-covered clothing and chucked them outside in a crusty heap. He probably wouldn't have noticed if those clothes were thrown in his face—he was too enticed by the sight of Axel standing there in nothing but black boxers.

Roxas willed himself to stop staring. It wasn't like the redhead was the best thing to look at, with his bony hips and skinny limbs. He didn't even have any chest hair, psssh.

'_I don't even like him that much,'_ Roxas thought.

Yeah, right.

Axel smirked as he picked up the pants Roxas had given him, knowing full well the blond was staring at his every move, but surprisingly not saying anything about it. He just slipped the lounge pants on, not caring that it wasn't a perfect fit.

Roxas cared, though. He cared a lot. Those pants looked ready to fall down at any second.

Somehow, he'd been so lost in staring that he didn't notice Axel had moved until the couch cushions shifted. Roxas jumped slightly when a skinny arm snaked around his neck.

He frowned. "You're not wearing a shirt," he muttered.

Axel burst out laughing. "We're alone on a stormy night in a dark room and all you can say is that I'm not wearing a shirt?"

Roxas ignored him. "Why aren't you? I brought you one."

Axel shrugged. "I chucked it outside after I used it to squeeze some of the mud from my hair. Hope you don't mind."

"Uh...I guess not." The shirt had been Sora's anyway.

"Good." The smirk was back on Axel's face; as if he were aware of just how sexy he looked shirtless. Which he probably was. Prick.

Roxas blinked, suddenly aware of how close Axel's face had gotten. Very close. Way close. Those striped tattoos became blurred and unfocused, then disappeared as blue eyes fluttered shut.

"Axel..." he murmured under his breath before those lips descended on his.

It was odd; the first time they'd kissed it was tentative and unsure, as though they weren't sure if it was allowed, but it quickly grew into a passionate, frenzied clash of tongues like they were sure they'd never be able to kiss again.

Now Axel's kiss was slow and sure, almost lazy like he knew all along it would happen again. Roxas had wanted this—maybe that really was the reason he'd called the redhead over—but he couldn't figure out if Axel was just messing with him or if he really wanted to be with him. Talking felt so mundane compared to _this_.

Just then, Axel ran his tongue across the seam of Roxas' mouth, causing him to gasp in surprise and cling tighter to the redhead. Axel smiled into the kiss, leaning Roxas backwards until they were both lying on the couch with the legs entwined and lips still connected. The only sound that echoed in the otherwise silent house was the noise of their wet, sweet kissing.

Neither boy noticed when the storm calmed and the gray clouds disappeared into the sky.

--

Before Roxas even opened his eyes the next morning, he knew he wasn't in his own bed. He was itchy, uncomfortable, and someone was snoring in his ear.  
He yawned and tried to stretch, finding that his arms were trapped. He finally opened an eye, seeing nothing but a huge mass of red hair.

"Axel..." he muttered, more sleepy than annoyed. The redhead's arms were snaked around the blond's waist, and his head was on Roxas's chest while his long legs half-dangled off the couch.

Roxas smiled contently and snuggled into the embrace. He still didn't know what Axel thought of him, not really, so who knew when he'd get a chance like this again? He didn't even mind the snoring—for now, anyway.

He was just closing his eyes, more than ready to go back to sleep, when the sound of the front door slamming startled him awake. Axel gave a loud snort, which also woke him up.

Roxas's mother was standing in the middle of the room, face white as a sheet and her mouth open in horror. Roxas immediately tried to think of an excuse but the evidence was all against him: the muddy floor, the shirtless Axel, the way Axel's pants were halfway down his legs and holy crap, was that a hickey on his neck? Damnit.

"ROXAS! I THOUGHT WE CURED YOU OF YOUR GAYNESS!"

Axel quickly scrambled from the couch, yanking up the pants as he ran for the door. Before he hightailed it outta there, he leaned in and whispered, "I'll give you back the pants next time you're alone."

_Zoom_. Off he went, shirtless and all.

Roxas's mom, meanwhile, had regained color back in her face. A bright, angry red color, to be exact. She turned to her son, looking ready to explode. "THAT'S IT, YOUNG MAN! NO MORE GAYNESS FOR YOU!"

Roxas, however, knew better. Waaay better...after all, he still needed to get his pants back from Axel. Hmm...he hoped his parents wouldn't notice that mud hole in the lawn. Maybe Axel would fall in it again—Roxas knew he didn't have any other pants that would fit him. Besides, the redhead's boxers _were_ the only thing he'd been wearing that didn't get dirty...

Well, with _mud_, at any rate.

------

_ROXAS YOU'RE DIRTAY! XD Although he was kind of a wuss in this one. Ah, well. Even the toughest guy can be a wuss in the weirdest situations ;P_

And wheeee my dad came in and brought me balloons while I was writing this. xD And they're rainbow! Yessss, rainbow balloons. My life is complete. :D  
Mkay, I'm leaving tomorrow to Orlando for a little birthday vacation...woo rides! Ahahaha life is sweet. But yes, please leave me lots of lovely **reviews  
**to come back to! You guys rule like that. ;D  
Oh, and a little favor: I'm curious to know what your favorite theme was, so in your review, could you please tell me? I have a feeling I know which one, but yes...I wanna know:D

So that may be the end of this challenge, but I've got another one, this time RikuxSora, that I'm going to start putting up sometime next week. Look out for it! And once I'm done with that, I'll probably take up another AkuRoku challenge. They're waaay too much fun to write!

Thanks again to everyone who has read and reviewed all these! You guys are seriously awesome, and you all deserve cookies...or some of my cake. Hehehe. I'll eat a piece in everybody's honor!


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